An RTD board committee approved a plan Tuesday night to build the Northwest Rail to Westminster in the next decade, with hopes of having the money to complete the commuter rail line to Longmont by 2028.

The plan, a recommendation made by the Regional Transportation District staff March 5, passed in a 13-2 vote of the FasTracks Monitoring Committee on Tuesday and will go before the full RTD Board of Directors for approval March 27.

The "hybrid" solution calls for the completion of a 12-mile commuter rail line from Denver to Church Ranch Boulevard by 2020 to 2022. The six miles from Denver to southern Westminster have already been funded, while the other half of the rail to Church Ranch would cost $350 million to $450 million.

The proposal also calls for the rest of the planned 41-mile rail to be built in phases as money becomes available.

RTD officials previously said they did not have an estimate for when the rail line could reach Longmont -- via Broomfield, Louisville and Boulder -- but Tuesday night they projected the necessary money could be available between 2028 and 2034.

"We're saying we believe that with a fair amount of confidence, we believe we can complete the Northwest Rail to Longmont in that time frame," said Pauletta Tonilas, a spokeswoman for FasTracks.

In the meantime, up to 80 miles of bus rapid transit, using dedicated lanes for high-frequency travel, would cover the rest of the corridor up to Longmont by 2020. The cost for the bus rapid transit would be capped at $894 million.

The plan comes after the rail -- which was approved by Denver-area voters as part of the 2004 FasTracks ballot initiative -- ran into financial obstacles and prompted some officials to propose eliminating it. Some lauded it as a way to ensure the construction of the commuter line moved forward at all, but some Boulder County officials expressed concern it did not include enough guarantees the rail would ever make it to Boulder and Longmont.

"Let's get it done and keep our promise," said RTD board member Bill McMullen. "This plan shows a responsible way to proceed by providing real transit options. It's not a cutback, it's an enhancement and an acknowledgment things change."

Boulder City Council members largely expressed support for the plan at a Monday study session, as did Broomfield Mayor Pat Quinn on Tuesday night.

"I'm of the opinion that the commuter rail needs bus rapid transit to supplement it and the board vote is headed in the right direction," Quinn said.

The plan assumes that voters approve a doubling of the 0.4 percent FasTracks sales tax. If voters shoot it down, the rail corridor would be built, but not until 2042. Some board members expressed concern that the sales tax might not pass in November.

"This is a very rough year go back to the voters for more funding," said board member John Tayer. "I'm not going into this with wild ideas that people want to get taxed."

Some area officials said that without a guarantee the rail will reach Boulder County, voters in the northern corridor are not likely to support the sales tax.

"It's a tough year to pass a tax raise, and if you don't have strong support from Boulder County, it will not pass," former Longmont councilwoman and RTD board member Karen Benker told the RTD board.

Longmont Mayor Dennis Coombs said should the sales tax fail, the 2042 completion date would be the same as "never." It might make sense to push for an even higher eight-tenths tax, he said, to speed the construction along.

"Tax the hell out of us now and get it over with," Coombs said. "But that's just my personal opinion. I don't think that's going to fly."

While Louisville Mayor Bob Muckle supported the plan, he also favored a higher tax to speed up completion of the rail.

"I want to say I would be interested in RTD looking for more money in a ballot initiative, and get it done in 10 years," Muckle told the board Tuesday. He said buses are not a permanent solution.

Longmont City Councilman Gabe Santos, who has become a consistent critic of RTD since the revisions to the Northwest Corridor plan began, said at this point, the process has begun to feel like a used-car deal, with lots of promises in the pitch but nothing pinned down in the fine print.

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